Thruster DEX
About
Thruster is the flagship decentralized exchange of the Blast ecosystem. Designed from hackathon concept to live product, it scaled beyond $600M+ TVL, $7B+ trading volume, and 100K users while serving both quick swappers and advanced liquidity participants.
Client
Fscape Technology
DELIVERABLES
BRAND IDENTITY / UX STRATEGY / UI DESIGN / DESIGN SYSTEM / HI-FI SCREENS
Year
2023
Role
SENIOR PRODUCT DESIGNER, END-TO-END EXECUTION
Project Overview
I led the brand and end-to-end product design from the Blast Hackathon through launch and scale. The product had to welcome users who wanted a fast swap while supporting deeper workflows for liquidity, staking, analytics, and gauge voting. The solution used progressive modes, a reusable design system, and a visual identity that felt native to Blast without sacrificing clarity.
Challenge
A DEX is not one journey. New users need a trustworthy route from wallet connection to swap, while experienced users need dense market data, liquidity controls, and governance tools. Thruster had to support both without splitting into inconsistent products.
● TWO LEVELS OF COMPLEXITY
● TRUST ON A NEW CHAIN
Users needed transparent token, route, risk, and transaction feedback before committing assets in a new ecosystem.
● GOVERNANCE WAS HARD TO READ
Gauge voting, emissions, APR, caps, and remaining vote power had to be understandable in one working view.
Research & Insights
I compared mainstream swap flows with advanced trading, liquidity, and vote experiences, then modeled four core user types: momentum traders, incentive-driven farmers, professional LP strategists, and cross-chain newcomers. Their needs pointed to one system with progressive depth rather than separate products.
Personas
The primary audience ranged from momentum traders optimizing entry speed to liquidity farmers and professional LPs managing returns and risk. A secondary group arrived from other chains and needed a guided first path into Blast.
Strategy & Concept
Create a clear default route and let complexity appear when it becomes useful. Lite interactions prioritize entry, price, route, and confirmation; advanced workspaces add charts, market depth, analytics, liquidity, staking, and voting without changing the underlying visual language.
● LITE AND ADVANCED MODES
The swap experience scales from a focused transaction flow to a denser workspace for active traders.
● LIQUIDITY AND YIELD TOOLS
Portfolio, credits, staking, and analytics use shared patterns so users can move between actions without relearning the interface.
● GAUGE VOTING WITH CONTEXT
Community totals, emissions, timing, vote power, caps, and pool-level actions are organized into a single governance view.
● A SYSTEM BUILT TO SCALE
Reusable components and tokens supported rapid hackathon delivery, production expansion, and a consistent brand across the product.
Design Outcome
Thruster launched as the Blast Hackathon winner and grew into the ecosystem’s leading DEX. The shipped experience supported more than $600M+ TVL, $7B+ in trading volume, and 100K users while keeping quick swaps, advanced trading, liquidity, and governance inside one coherent system.
Key Takeaways
The strongest design move was not simplifying every screen equally; it was matching information density to user intent. A clear entry mode and progressively deeper tools helped the product serve new and expert users without diluting either audience.